Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I am appealing to have alternative grading for the PSYC 473 final term paper, as I have completed 60 of the course work already. My letter for extenuating circumstances is outlined below:

On April 20th, 2017, my father committed suicide. Grief is not a linear and clearly-defined process. Sudden violent death of a parent creates a burden of additional trauma. There have been two clear main experiences of grieving my father that have directly impacted my academic ability.

First, I noticed suffering what is called ¿¿grief brain¿: I would describe it as constant confusion, forgetfulness, and inability to process simple concepts¿¿a feeling like waiting for my brain to start working again. I struggled with simple things; spelling and word recall during conversations or writing. I struggled to write third year exams assignments (in place of exams deferred in order to attend my father¿¿s funeral). I took two weeks off work yet I wrestled with organizing my thoughts and forming arguments despite knowing and understanding the exam content.

This fall semester, I thought I would be able to push through as I had with my August re-sits. However, I simply continued to struggle with keeping on track with work, new course study information and training for my honors thesis project. I have been resilient for much of my life and just pushed myself through the semester coursework despite feeling more and more depleted.

Secondly, around mid November it hit me. Some people can empathize with this experience, but it was just lying in my room when the realization¿¿that my father was gone, and never going to come back¿¿ hit me. My mental and physical health deteriorated. Most notably, my motivation and energy plummeted to zero. Where before I had a ¿¿whatever it takes¿ attitude towards completing schoolwork, I now had a deep sense of ambivalence.

With no energy, weekends were just two days I was simply unable to get out bed or even stay awake for more than a few hours. Weekends of hypersomnia turned into weekdays; I would feel nauseous after being awake for a few hours needing to sleep again. I could never predict when I would be awake enough to study. There was no productive time to work. I also had no appetite and lost weight. Further, as described by a counselor, my current state is: beginning to dissociate from my body¿¿ (in addition to the sleep/energy issues) eliminated appetite, not being able to eat food without feeling nauseous, and subsequently, constantly feeling dizzy and lightheaded.


Every time I tried to do the final PSYC 473 term paper, I found myself mindnumbingly searching through academic articles and making reams of notes without being able to make sense of my paper. I tried to force myself to write and the consequent stress caused the ¿¿grief brain¿ to worsen. I tried my old tactics to get past the symptoms but nothing worked. My brain had switched off and stopped caring even while my conscience berated and screamed at me to finish this work. I was defeated; exhausted, confused, with low self-confidence in my ability; basically feeling beaten. The traumatic grief had beaten me to the ground and I simply could not fight any more no matter how badly I wanted to.

Additionally, I have struggled for years with anxiety and depression, which aggregated with this delayed grief.

Accepting the reality of what had happened in my family is one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. Living with this pain burden for the last 8 months has been truly exhausting. I tried to get help through a doctor in Kingston who suggested medication, counseling, and academic accommodations on deadlines. The former helped with the anxiety and mood, but my energy levels continued to deteriorate further. Academic accommodations helped slightly when I first noticed the symptoms returning in November, however, I still submitted less than satisfactory work for grading.

When I hit the grief wall with the 473 term paper, I finally revealed my situation to a professor I felt safe to share this event with. She supported me in speaking with the psychology undergrad chair, who scheduled a meeting with a personal counselor at Student Wellness Services. The counselor has recommended deferring courses for a semester or reduced course load whilst undergoing therapy to properly process the traumatic grief. She agreed that whilst in traumatic grief I couldn¿¿t fairly demonstrate my ability and understanding for the term paper, as well as the two exams I hope to complete later in the year¿¿ at a time when my mental and physical health is better.